Dr Mark Fleury Highlights ACS CAN's Advocacy Efforts

Mark Fleury, PhD, MS, principal of Policy Development and Emerging Science at the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), has highlighted the advocacy efforts the organization was involved in from the local level to the federal level.

Transcript

What are some of the major advocacy efforts that ACS CAN has been involved in over the past year?

ACS CAN is a national organization and we work on the local level—sometimes as local as cities—the state level, and at the federal level. We have a presence in all 50 states and will advocate on things as small as smoke-free ordinances in a given city to things as large as healthcare reform, 21st Century Cures, things like that. We were very active in 21st Century Cures. That was a very bipartisan, open process, where the input of patient groups and all stakeholders was invited. And we provided testimony, lots of commentary on that. And we felt like we had a great opportunity to help shape and influence the legislation.

The other major issue that we really spent a lot of time on over the last 6 months is healthcare reform. The Affordable Care Act instituted a number of protections for cancer patients—things like abolishing lifetime caps, getting rid of preexisting condition exclusions, and community rating. So, as Congress decided to revisit a lot of the Affordable Care Act, and the way insurance is regulated and financed, we’ve stepped in and made sure that the provisions that are important to cancer patients, again things like lifetime caps and guaranteed issue, have maintained in any proposals going forward.